Great celebrity comebacks are rare -- in a world ruled by fickle fame, it's not always easy for actors and actresses to recover from career misfortune. What are some of the best examples of impressive celebrity comebacks for actors and actresses of the past 30 years? The world of Hollywood actors is riddled with disappointment and overbearing egos, but what about stars who once had it all, fell out of favor, then rose from the wreckage and transformed their prior misfortunes into renewed successes? Below is a list of the best film actor comebacks of all time.
http://www.ranker.com/list/celebrity-comebacks/devon-ashby,
Alec Baldwin
The oldest and arguably least doofy of the four Baldwin brothers, Alec Baldwin rose to fame during the '80s and early '90s as a suave leading man. His memorable dramatics include starring roles in The Hunt For Red October, The Shadow, and Glegarry Glen Ross.
In the wake of a bitter divorce from fellow A-lister Kim Basinger in 2002, made worse by a painfully drawn-out custody battle, Baldwin's career drifted to the sidelines. Though he continued to work, his presence was relegated throughout the late '90s and early 00's to a string of supporting (albeit occasionally acclaimed) roles.
In 2006, Baldwin was cast as Liz Lemon's boss, Jack Donaghy, on Tina Fey's beloved sitcom 30 Rock. His hilariously erratic yet deadpan approach to the character helped reinvent his public persona, transforming him forever in the public consciousness from a coolly dramatic lead into a self-deprecating comedic icon.
Betty White
Known for her treacly, two-faced matronly characters, Betty White rose to iconic status starting in the '60s. Bitingly hilarious in front of the camera, White was also recognized for her influence behind it -- she the first woman ever to produce a TV sitcom, and the first woman to win an Emmy as a game show host.
During the '70s, White enjoyed new levels of recognition after landing a role as a recurring character Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and her fame extended into the '80s with her now legendary role on Golden Girls.
Though she continued to turn up in minor roles during the '90s, it appeared for awhile that Betty might finally be entering a reluctant dotage. Starting in the early '00s, however, her visibility began a gradual resurgence, culminating in her legendary appearance as a host of Saturday Night Live in 2010. Today, Betty remains a visible and beloved comedy icon and makes frequent, celebrated appearances in both film and television.
Drew Barrymore
Definitely one of the youngest people in the industry to go nuts and make a full recovery, Drew Barrymore has been starring in movies since early childhood and published a drug memoir at the tender age of 14. As a child, Barrymore spent half a decade as Hollywood's adorable moppet du jour, appearing in Cat's Eye, Firestarter, and Stephen Spielberg's E.T. Known for precocious and rebellious behavior, Barrymore's career ground to a halt in in 1989 when she was forced into rehab twice, once for cocaine addiction, and then a second time for trying to kill herself.
Barrymore's public image turned around in 1995 when she starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Mary Louise Parker in Boys On the Side, playing a wild and impulsive young woman much like herself attempting to escape from an abusive relationship. The following year, her memorable appearance in Wes Craven's Scream cemented her return to prominence. Barrymore has gone on to write, direct, produce, and star in numerous Hollywood productions.
Joaquin Phoenix
Appropriately, Phoenix is one of few actors who has made comebacks into an art form of their own. Though he started off as a child actor, his burgeoning early career was derailed in 1993 by the notorious drug overdose death of his older brother, River Phoenix. The media frenzy surrounding the death was intense, and Joaquin (credited, at the time, as "Leaf Phoenix") withdrew for several years from the public eye.
At age 15, Joaquin changed his name from "Leaf" back to "Joaquin" and returned to acting, landing a number of small supporting roles, and finally hitting the fame jackpot in 2000 for his role as Commodus in Ridley Scott's Gladiator. He continued to tackle weird and challenging material throughout the early 2000s, appearing in films like Quills, Hotel Rwanda, M. Knight Shyamalan's The Village, and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.
After checking into rehab in 2005, wrecking his car while intoxicated in 2006 (and being improbably rescued by legendary German director Werner Herzog), and a period of routinely bizarre public behavior, Phoenix has now returned seriously to acting. He has recently been critically recognized for his starring roles in P.T. Anderson's The Master, and in Spike Jonze's Her.
Martin Lawrence
Lawrence first gained popularity as an improv and stand-up performer during the late '80s, with a respectable film career in his back pocket as well, following his appearance in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and the House Party series. He was the host of Def Comedy Jam on HBO and had his own hit series, Martin, during the second half of the '90s
Increasingly struggling with delusional and violent tendencies, Lawrence was arrested and hospitalized several times between 1995 and 1997. He was also accused of sexually harassing and assaulting his Martin co-star, Tisha Campbell-Martin, during the filming of the series' final season, although no formal charges were ever filed.
Martin was out-of-commission for a few years, but ultimately bounced back with a string of high-grossing hits, including Big Momma's House and its sequels. Currently Martin is starring with Kelsey Grammer in the buddy cop series Partners on FX.
Matthew McConaughey
A series of prominent dramatic roles during the '90s -- including A Time To Kill, The Newton Boys, and Amistad -- established McConaughey as a Hollywood heavyweight. During the 2000s, however, he slipped gradually into B-list status, becoming better known for fluffy, annoying-looking romantic comedies like How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days, and The Wedding Planner.
In recent years, McConaghey has moved away from lighter fare and aligned himself once again with darker, more challenging material, regaining both critical respect and fan worship as a result. In 2013 he appeared in Dallas Buyer's Club and The Wolf of Wall-Street (both nominated for Best Picture Oscars). Perhaps his most compelling recent appearance was as Rustin Cohl in HBO's critically-acclaimed first season of True Detective.
Mickey Rourke
Cultivating a public image during the '80s as a tough but lovable loser thanks to films like Rumblefish and Barfly, Rourke quickly gained a reputation for being difficult, erratic, and temperamental to work with. In the early '90s, Rourke -- always an eccentric -- ditched his acting career entirely, and spent several years engrossed in professional boxing, and semi-professional advocacy for chihuahua rights.
Lured back into the fold during the 2000s, Rourke's most powerful and acclaimed role was as the title character of Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler in 2008. Rourke has since appeared in several features, including The Expendables and Iron Man 2.
Natasha Lyonne
Turn-of-the-millennium, pre-Deschanel quirky girl Natasha Lyonne appeared in tons of late-'90s teen staples, from the prototypical lesbian romance But I'm a Cheerleader, to the outrageously successful American Pie franchise, to indy cult classics like Slums of Beverly Hills.
Like many young performers, Lyonne wrestled with emotional instability and drug addiction. After wrecking her car, getting thrown out of her apartment for threatening to "molest" her neighbor's cat, dating Edward Furlong, and enduring numerous arrests and hospitalizations during the first half of the 2000s, Lyonne has apparently come back down to earth. She is currently slated to continue her tenure as troubled ex-heroin-addict Nicky on Netflix's wildly popular Orange is the New Black.
Robert Downey Jr.
The son of notoriously bizarre underground filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., Downey Jr. became associated during the '80s with the so-called "brat pack," appearing mainly in films for disgruntled youths like Less Than Zero and Weird Science.
Downey Jr.'s career during the '90s was characterized by flamboyant drug problems and multiple arrests. This culminating in a three-year-prison sentence toward the end of the decade, which was later reduced to 1 year with a hefty fine.
After a few hiccups, Downey Jr. has managed to stay clean and has become a more beloved public figure than ever, winning the hearts and minds of filmgoers all over the nation, and indeed the world, with his portrayal of Tony Stark in Marvel's Iron Man films.
Rob Lowe
A member of the Hollywood "brat pack" during the '80s, Lowe appeared in The Outsiders, Youngblood, and St. Elmo's Fire among other notable titles.
His public life hit a major snag in 1988 when Lowe was videotaped the night before the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, GA, having sex with two women in a hotel room (one of whom was only 16 -- which, lucky for Rob, is Georgia's age of consent). The scandal was compounded when a second tape leaked as well, this time showing Lowe and another man having sex with a young model in Paris.
Fortunately, Lowe had a sense of humor about the scandal, and a self-deprecating appearance on SNL went a long way toward mitigating the damage. Lowe is currently part of the ensemble cast of NBC's beloved sitcom Parks and Recreation. (His celebrity sex tape remains popular as well.)